1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device, system and method for testing a function of a display port.
2. Discussion of the Background
Recently, display panels such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), high-definition television (HDTVs), etc., have been developed, so that an interface for the display panels requires high capacity for transmitting image data.
In order to apply the interface to various display panels, a standard of the interface has been determined. The interface is classified as either an external interface or an internal interface. The external interface connects the display panel to multifunctional peripherals such as a driving unit. The internal interface connects internal elements of the display panel.
A standard for a conventional internal interface is a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS). In the LVDS, blocks for processing an analog signal and a digital signal are disposed on a scaler board to transmit digital data through a cable, which is digitalized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The LVDS uses a low voltage of about 3.3 V or about 1.5 V, which are lower than a standard voltage of about 5 V. The LVDS uses a decreased number of wirings on a motherboard and a display panel that is widely used in various fields.
A standard for a conventional external interface is the Digital Visual Interface (DVI). In the DVI standard, an image is stored as digital data, and is displayed on a monitor of a computer.
Recently, a display port (DP) and a unified display interface (UDI) have been devised as the interface. The DP is a standard for a digital display interface issued by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). In the DP, the internal interface is integrated with the external interface. When the internal interface is integrated with the external interface, a data bandwidth is increased so that three streams of 1080p display resolution may be transmitted through the data bandwidth of about 10.8 Gbps, which is greater than twice the data bandwidth of the DVI. Thus, a high resolution image may be transmitted.
In the display panel having the DP as the interface, the scaler board outputting a digital signal based on the signals from the DVI that is the external interface may be omitted. A DP timing controller is mounted on an internal printed circuit board (PCB) of the display panel instead of the scaler board, so that cost and size of the display panel are decreased.
An HDTV, projector, monitor, camcorder, etc., may be connected to each other through a computer using the DP. However, the DP function of the display panel may not be easily tested. For example, when the DP function is manually tested, a manufacturing time of the display panel is greatly increased.